SeedCo Unveils 3 New Maize Varieties
Seed Co Zimbabwe has launched three new maize seed varieties that are disease and drought tolerant as well as early maturing to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The varieties were launched on Monday at the national annual field day at Seed Co’s Rattray Arnold Research Station in Goromonzi. The new maize seed varieties are:
- SC303, which is an ultra-early maize variety tolerant to heat and drought and yields up to 11.4 tonnes per hectare. It is ideal for marginal production zones with low rainfall or short rainy seasons.
- SC547 is an early maturity, a disease-tolerant variety that can yield up to 12 tonnes per hectare.
- SC437 is a very early variety with good and heat-tolerant traits.
Speaking at the launch of the maize seed varieties, Seed Co managing director, Terrance Chimanya, said:
With the farmer in mind, our scientists have come up with mitigation measures against the devastating effects of climate change producing locally adaptable genetics that align with every cropping programme and environment.
Our maize basket has a wide range of varieties for every agro-ecological region in Zimbabwe and for every cropping programme (grain silage or green mealies. We want to reduce the effects of climate change.
We have come up with short-season varieties with high yields, production of drought-tolerant varieties that withstand long periods of moisture stress and production of varieties that are tolerant to diseases such as grey leaf spot and maize streak virus.
